For-profit colleges

Walmart is paying to send employees to the American Public University System, where they earn credits for on-the-job learning. The partnership has a big upside, but makes prior learning experts nervous.

Prior learning assessment could be higher education's next big disruptive force, and ACE and CAEL are poised to catch that potential gold rush. But many remain skeptical about academic credit for work experience.

High school dropouts used to be able to qualify for federal grants and loans based on a basic skills test. That ends in July, and community colleges are worried about what will happen to these students.

Steve Gunderson has plenty of friends, including the Senate's leading critic of for-profit colleges. But the new head of the sector's trade group isn't afraid to pick a fight -- even with one of his members.